Moderate Daily Coffee Consumption may Reduce Risk of Heart Failure

(epharmanews)- A new research in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation Heart Failure found that regular, moderate consumption of coffee could reduce the risk of heart failure.

Researchers analyzed five previous studies on the link between coffee consumption and heart failure. These studies were conducted between 2001 and 2011 and have involved 6,522 heart failures in 140,220 adults. Four of the studies were conducted in Sweden and on in Finland.

They found that daily moderate consumption of coffee may be linked to significantly reduced risk of heart failure. However, too much coffee consumption may lead to an increased risk of serious heart problems.

“While there is a commonly held belief that regular coffee consumption may be dangerous to heart health, our research suggests that the opposite may be true,” said Murray Mittleman, M.D., Dr.P.H., senior study author.

“We found that moderate consumption — which we define as the equivalent of about two typical American coffee shop beverages — may actually protect against heart failure by as much as 11 percent,” he said. “On the other hand, excessive coffee drinking — five to six commercial coffee house cups per day has no benefit and may even be dangerous. As with so many things, moderation appears to be the key here, too.”

The study defines moderate consumption as four Northern European servings per day, the equivalent to about two typical 8-ounce American servings. Excessive coffee consumption is 10 Northern European servings per day, the equivalent to four or five coffees from popular American coffee restaurant chains (servings sizes vary from 9 to 20 fluid ounces per serving).

“There are many factors that play into a person’s risk of heart failure, but moderate coffee consumption doesn’t appear to be one of them,” said Elizabeth Mostofsky, Sc.D., lead study author.

“This is good news for coffee drinkers, of course, but it also may warrant changes to the current heart failure prevention guidelines, which suggest that coffee drinking may be risky for heart patients. It now appears that a couple of cups of coffee per day may actually help protect against heart failure.”

Researchers did not definitively say why coffee offers a heart-health benefit. But evidence suggests that frequent coffee drinkers develop a tolerance to the beverage’s caffeine, which may put them at a decreased risk of developing high blood pressure.

Habitual coffee consumption is also associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes, with most studies showing the greatest reduction in risk with higher levels of coffee consumption.

“Diabetes and hypertension are among the most important risk factors for heart failure, so it stands to reason that reducing one’s odds of developing either of them, in turn, reduces one’s chance of heart failure,” Mittleman said.